Guardians Baseball Insider

Image: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Quality of Opposition (QoO) numbers per Baseball Reference

BREWERS PITCHERS (PROJECTIONS PER FanGraphs)

Brandon Woodruff (1st-6th innings): MLB ace
Brent Suter (7th inning): MLB 7th-inning setup man
Josh Hader (8th inning): MLB closer
Blaine Hardy (9th inning): Triple-A reliever or starter

STARTERS – POSITION BATTLES

Amed Rosario (CF): 1-3, 3B – As impressive as Rosario’s triple off of Woodruff was, the key here is another errorless game in center from Amed.

Bobby Bradley (1B): 0-2 – Not his best day at the plate, but unlikely to factor in to the first base race. It’s all over but the official announcement of Bradley getting the job at this point.

RESERVES

Owen Miller (2B): 1-2 – Miller makes it three hits off of Triple-A or better pitching in as many days with this 8th-inning single against Hader.

Ben Gamel (PR-LF): 0-1 – Yesterday’s fly out notwithstanding, Gamel has taken advantage of the uncertainty in the outfield to position himself as a legitimate option in center field.

Yu Chang (3B): 0-1, 1 K – Chang struck out looking to end the eighth in his only at-bat yesterday.

Harold Ramirez (PR-DH): 0-1 – Ramirez’s struggles at the plate continued yesterday. He wlll be a player to watch for progress from in minor league camp games next mont.

Bradley Zimmer (RF): 1-1, 1 R – Zimmer helped his case for the starting CF job (or at least a spot in a platoon there), with his single, even if it was against a Triple-A hurler. While he entered yesterday with only an .842 OPS, he achieved that against 8.2 (Triple-A) pitching on average, the highest QoO of any Indians hitter this spring.

Connor Marabell (1B): 1-1, 1 2B, 1 RBI – Marabell’s ninth-inning RBI was his fifth of the spring in 16 plate appearances (4.6 QoO entering Monday’s action).

Jordan Luplow (PH-CF): 0-2, 1 K – If he had been healthy the entire spring, Luplow would be a heavy favorite to make the Opening Day roster. As it stands, he is running out of time to get enough at-bats to be in game shape on April 1. Five at-bats (no hits) in two games with only seven more contests left to get ABs in seems like a recipe for a start in the alternate site camp in Columbus.

Tyler Freeman (SS): 1-1 – Freeman came into Monday;s game with an 1.149 OPS against 5.9 (between Double-A and High-A) pitching and kept the offensive production going with a single in the game’s penultimate plate appearance. Hopefully, this is a preview of coming attractions at Canal Park this summer.

PITCHERS

Triston McKenzie: L (0-2), 4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R (all earned), 4 BB, 3 K, 3 HR allowed – McKenzie had his worst day of the spring control-wise (four walks in 4,2 IP compared to six in his first 9.2 of the spring). Throw in three homers, which nearly doubled his previous preseason total of four, and this is not the performance you want to have as roster decisions are being made.

Nick Sandlin: 0.1 IP, perfect – Sandlin got Daniel Vogelbach to fly out to left to end the fifth inning after McKenzie was pulled after reaching 80 pitches.

Nick Mikolajchak: 0.1 IP, 1 BB – Mikolajchak, who made his major league spring debut on March 11 pitching a third of an inning against the Padres in Peoria, returned to close out the day on the mound for the Indians’ staff.